Daily News ArchivesFrom
June 21, 2005Congressional
Report Finds Human Pesticide Experiments Unethical
(Beyond Pesticides, June 21, 2005)
Over twenty human pesticide experiments have been found to be unethical,
as well as unscientific, in a recently released congressional report
from the House of Representative's Committee
on Government Reform. The experiments violated ethical standards
by deliberately exposing subjects to dangerous pesticides, many of which
are suspected carcinogens and neurotoxicants.

Azinphos-methyl,
carbofuran,
chloropicrin, and dimethoate, as well as several other organophosphates,
are examples of the pesticides that were used in the experiments. Methyl
isothiocyanate, which is closely related to the chemical that killed
thousands in Bhopal, India, was also tested.

The report evaluates
22 of 24 studies submitted to EPA for review in the regulation process.
The experiments were primarily conducted by pesticide manufactures.

Committee member
Henry A. Waxman released a statement
describing the tests, "These pesticides are intentionally designed
to be toxic . . . Yet in the experiments, test subjects swallowed insecticide
tablets, sat in chambers with pesticide vapors, had pesticides applied
to their skin, had pesticides shot into their eyes and noses, and were
even exposed in their homes for six months at a time.

Representative Waxman
stated, "What we've found is that the human pesticide experiments
that the Bush Administration intends to use to set federal pesticide
policies are rife with ethical and scientific defects."

A moratorium for
human pesticide experiments was issued in 1998. Christine Todd Whitman,
the first EPA Administrator under Bush's Administration, made efforts
to maintain the moratorium without the Administration's support. The
pesticide industry sued. A 2003 court ruling sided with industry reversing
the moratorium pending the adoption of binding rules on human testing
by EPA. See daily news for more about human
testing.